Post navigation

Bogus report of weapon at high school in La Verne prompts lockdown

LA VERNE >> Police and school officials placed Bonita High School in La Verne on lockdown Wednesday after an anonymous tipster reported a student had brought a gun to the campus, authorities said. No weapon was found.
The La Verne Police Department received an anonymous phone call about 10:30 a.m. reporting had a handgun with him at the campus, 3102 D Street, Bonita Unified School District Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Curtis Frick said.
“The administration, as we’ve practiced many times, put the school in a lockdown to secure the campus,” Frick said. “Police arrived and began investigation.”
The school remained locked down for about an hour, he said. The lockdown was lifted about 11:40 a.m., after investigators determined there was no weapon on campus.
Students were released at noon, Frick said. An early release schedule was already planned Wednesday to accommodate a staff development day.
The phone call made to La Verne police came from what appeared to be a prepaid cell phone, La Verne police Lt. Tom Frayeh said.
Police were looking into the possibility the unfounded phone call was related to an incident that had just unfolded at the school, the lieutenant added.
Just prior to the phone call, police and school officials had detained a 15-year-old sophomore on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sales at the school, Frayeh said. The teen was arrested and released to his parents with a court date.
But a second 15-year-old boy, who police suspected was trying to buy marijuana from the other boy, ran from the school, police said.
As police were searching for the second teen, the anonymous phone call reporting a weapon on campus was received, Frayeh said.
Though a concrete link had not been established, police were looking into the possibility someone may have made the bogus report to distract officials from their search for the second teen, Frayeh said.
The freshman was found and arrested about the same time the phone call came in, he added.

Comments Policy

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@langnews.com.